Snow melting vehicles are known in the art and are used to dispose of large amounts of snow by melting the snow and discharging the meltwater, usually into storm drains. The conventional devices typically have a large receptacle or melting tank for receiving the snow and various systems for melting the snow, including water spray devices, grinding devices and heating-type devices which melt the snow.
It is known that the snow load can include aggregate, such as, for example, sand, gravel, stones, plastics of many shapes and sizes and various heavy metallic objects, which are inadvertently collected along with the snow. This is particularly a problem in big cities where any clogging of the sewers is undesirable and should be avoided.
In conventional snow melting systems, the entire system must be shut down and the water drained out of the snow receptacle or melting tank in order to gain access to and remove the various debris collected with the snow which accumulate in the snow melting tank during operation.
Accordingly, there is a need for a continuous system and process for removing aggregate from the receptacle or melting tank of a snow melting vehicle in order to ensure continuous operation thereof. This is desirable to avoid any disruptions during the snow melting operation of the vehicle, which will result in energy savings and increased efficiency.